Soviet Movie Posters, 1920s

There is some argument about the context of this famous phrase, but the cinema's importance for the Soviet propaganda and lifestyle is beyond doubt. Moving pictures were screened everywhere: mountains and desert, sleepy provincial towns and distant villages, in trains and in churches converted into cinema theaters.

Cine Corner for the workers and farmers by Elizaveta Lavinskaya, 1920s

On the left side: What Is Cinema? On the right: How the Bourgeoisie exploits Cinema?

New movies were advertised with the help of the most talented and creative artists like Stenberg brothers, Alexander Rodchenko, Nikolai Prusakov and Israel Bograd.

A Journey to Mars by Prusakov and Borisov. 1926

Their posters were heavily influenced by Suprematism and Constructivism, and the square typeface became a trademark of the new Soviet Art. Battleship Potemkin (1925), a dramatized account of 1905 Russian naval mutinydirected by Sergei Eisenstein, was accompanied by striking posters by Stenberg brothers:

and Alexander Rodchenko:

Posters advertising the October, the story of 1917 Revolution in Petrograd also directed by Eisenstein were probably less striking: